I know its the Daily Mail, but there might be some hotels which may drop British holiday companies if they have had huge claims against them.
The problem is, that there are so many bogus claims that the genuine ones are going to be ignored.

It's all over the net now Fiona.

Someone on a Corralejo FB page I'm on has posted that they've been approached by these "ambulance chasers".

Jet2 hires private detectives:-

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?c=setreg&region=2&m_id=nbm_rnd&w_id=33110&news_id=2026998

Courtesy of Travelmole.

Apologies for being slightly off topic.
But I could never understand why resorts such as Benidorm and the ayuntamiento (council) gave out licenses to hotels to offer all inclusive and to so many hotels in the resort.......Knowing it would be detrimental to the town's businesses.
I can only assume that there's been pressure from the TO's because it's complete madness to deprive local bars and restaurants of customers and still expect them to pay their rates and survive.

Thank goodness Torremolinos ayuntamiento has their business heads screwed on correctly, and whilst there are a few hotels offering A1, they are normally to be found on the outskirts of the town and not affecting too many surrounding businesses.

La Carihuela is dependent on the customers in its restaurants, and hotels such as the Pez Espada doesn't even offer full board at any time of the year. The council is aware that these businesses have to be protected.

Sanji x

I never realised how big a problem this has become and after doing a search on Google I was astounded at the amount of results from solicitors/ companies cashing in on this. It seems like they have moved on from whiplash injuries and PPI claims to this.

This problem was reported in the local rags published in Spain before the Daily Fail picked it up.
The Costa Blanca and Valencian hotel associations have introduced wrist bands in some of their hotels that monitor when customers get food and drink.

They have a much better chance of proving they're dealing with a fraudulent claim if they can prove that someone has drunk 27 beers and 14 gin and tonics, and hasn’t been inside the restaurant because they've been confined ill to their room.

I've never been on a cruise and someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure I read somewhere that it is mandatory to use the hand sanitiser before entering areas where food is being served.

No such thing exists in hotels, they cannot enforce it and can only provide the sanitiser facilities. Maybe if it was made mandatory and monitored by staff, and enforced like the strict dress code ( long trousers for evening meals) , it may stop quite a few people who do have high hygiene standards from being infected by dirty inconsiderate morons.

And in the end we all pay, all those whiplash claims eventually bumped up everyone's motor insurance premiums.

Sanji x

The used to be quite difficult to get compensation for food poisoning abroad. I remember Brenda Wall had a very hard slog after contracting a bad strain of food poisoning in I think it was the Dominican Republic. It was as a result of her fight that she became a spokesperson for holidaytravelwatch.

In those days though you claimed against the tour operator as it was their responsibility to ensure the health & safety of their guests.

Whilst there are hotels around the world whose hygiene standards leave a lot to be desired, many people do not realise it is their fellow holidaymaker who is making them ill. A few years ago, I was no8 in a queue of women to use the toilet in a bar in Cyprus. Out of the 7 in front of me only 2 washed their hands. That's why I carry clean tissues in my bag so that I don't touch contaminated door handles, then dispose of tissue at first opportunity.

Yes it is true, cruise ships insist that passengers use hand sanitiser, but there will always be those that don't. I've stayed in one hotel (Rhodes) which had a dispenser at restaurant entrance. Only other place I saw it was Fuerteventura Airport.

Is it just UK holidaymakers who are making these false claims, if so who can blame hoteliers taking action to preserve their reputation. I wonder what the next scam will be?!

We have just returned from a holiday at a hotel in Croatia. It was only half way through our holiday that I spotted the hand sanitiser, discreetly positioned so as to be easily missed. However, at other hotels, especially Lanzarote and Madeira, we were not able to enter the restaurant without using the sanitiser first. When we have been on cruises, we have also found that we must use the hand sanitiser before entering the restaurant and also it seems that there is a member of staff frequently cleaning the hand rails on the stairs.

Funnily enough .. 1st time I heard these 'sick holiday' style ads on the radio, I instantly thought that it would gradually kill the all inclusive

I have to sigh at the way our over litigious society is going

The travel trade is being urged to pull together to fight the rise of false holiday sickness claims.

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?c=setreg&region=2&m_id=nbm_rnd&w_id=33147&news_id=2027128

Courtesy of Travelmole

I was on holiday in Caletta de Fuste for 1 week returning 22nd March, and when I got back was very poorly, with severe stomach issues, after several trips to the Doctor and hospital I had caught a parasite from holiday, and had antibiotics and tabs to sort it, touch wood all is going in the right direction.

The hotel itself I had no issues with (I have reviewed) and was not ill out there, and have no cause for complaint about the hotel, but it would not have occurred to me to contact the no win no fee people, it's the first time in 40 odd years of travelling that I have ever been that ill.

I think we are becoming more of a claim society unfortunately

Sorry to hear you've not been well Miss Pink, I hope you are 100% better soon. 👍

Thanks Glynis yesI am almost there thank you x

Oooo translated from Spanish.

A court of Palma Instruction will investigate the hundreds of British tourists who last year made allegations of false food poisoning against the Mallorcan chain Mac Hotels. This is the first time that we have taken criminal action in our country against this illegal practice carried out by thousands of tourists from the United Kingdom.

This court has received this month the proceedings of the Economic Crime Group of the National Police (UDEF), which has investigated for six months false allegations of food poisoning.

The investigations begin on December 1, 2016, when, on the part of the Mac Hotels chain, in coordination with the law firm Monlex and lawyer Carolina Ruiz, a complaint was lodged with the UDEF for these false intoxications, several years ago in all inclusive hotels in Mallorca.
Carolina Ruiz explains that "the prosecution of this operation is an important step in the fight against fraudulent claims, which suffer from hotels with impotence

The UDEF received a broad dossier , which included documentation prepared by private detectives, with images, audios, people involved and car registrations. From January to June, the National Police has been collating all the information, culminating this process with the delivery of the investigation to the Courts of Instruction of Palma.
The hotel chain was forced to act in this way to defend their interests and to cut off from the root this practice, which lawyer Carolina Ruiz calls a "crime for fraud".

This hotel group had detected that in the vicinity of the hotels Saturno, Jupiter and Mars, all located in the north of the island, people of British origin contacted their customers, of the same nationality, to offer their services and indicating that with the simple purchase of a drug (modium and capol) in a pharmacy and keeping the receipt, they would contact them on the return of their country to make the appropriate claim, simulating a supposed gastric disease caused in the hotel.

There are hundreds of complaints received by the chain, which, curiously, these hotels had passed all health inspections satisfactorily, including some carried out by the tour operators themselves.

https://ultimahora.es/noticias/local/2017/06/30/276913/juzgado-investigara-turistas-britanicos-presentan-denuncias-falsas.html

Sanji x

Thanks Sanji.

I don't see how, just by purchasing immodium, you could justify a claim for food poisoning or gastric illness

There will be a few worried folks with that news. It's an action that needed to be taken but I feel sorry for any genuine cases. Mind you, those ones will be ones the hotel knew about at the time.

I've no sympathy for people who make false claims, if they've made a false claim, they deserve everything thrown at them. I couldn't care less about them and those touting for business in the resorts, I'd throw them in a Spanish prison, where they will probably get a dose of the 😁

There also needs something done about the ambulance chasing companies in the UK, and some of the bovine excrement being allowed to be written on TA.

I may be coming across as being harsh, but their deception affects me, when the premiums of the hotel's indemnity insurance is increased to an astronomical amount because of these claims, and that increase in premiums will be passed down to the customer.

Insurance works the same whether in the UK or Spain.....The more claims, the more the hotel's insurance premium cost increases..... It can come to a point where obtaining insurance becomes impossible.
The hotel group can be put out of business, because they cannot operate without having adequate indemnity/liability insurance.

It sounds far fetched? Nope it isn't.

Sanji x

The general public are savvy enough these days to know all about making a claim, there's enough advertising for it, without having touts approaching folks on holiday.

Two people who had tried to sue for food poisoning while on holiday in Gran Canaria have been accused of putting in a false claim.

The tourists claimed to be 'bed-ridden' with stomach cramps and severe diarrhoea during their holiday at the Gloria Palace Hotel and had claimed compensation from the hotel and tour operator Jet2holidays.

Read more here

Courtesy of Travelmole